King Anton the Black
King Anton The Black was the first known King of Wolf's Crossing and the patriarch of the Royal House of Blackmorn. Descended from the Arathi humans, Anton led his clan to the richly-forested region of what is now the Grand Duchy of Wolf's Crossing, where through sheer ferocity and strength of arms, he established an independent Kingdom that would last until the rise of the Kingdom of Lordaeron. Physical Description He is said to have been a hulking brute of a man, at nearly six and a half feet tall and weighing well over two hundred and fifty pounds. His coal-black hair looked as though it had never been cut, and he was seldom seen without a coarse, black beard which had grown long enough to braid. Primative in nature, but certainly functional, Anton preferred armor made from heavy leather and furs. He is known to have wielded a massive battle axe with a spiked wolf's head, but preferred a bastard sword in the later years of his life. He was easily distinguished as Cheiftain of his clan by the dark, horned greathelm he wore, which was later replaced by a blackened crown, supposedly ornamented with troll tusks. He is also said to have worn a necklace made of dragon's teeth, but this is likely legend, as no such necklace has ever been found by his descendants. Personality Described by many as a grim, bearded barbarian, utterly lacking in social graces, Anton was almost certainly typical of warrior Kings of old. Having won his Crown through sheer brutality and strength of arms, he spent much of his life battling one enemy or another in order to preserve the dynasty he'd established. Despite many rumours to the contrary, Anton is said to have been particularly kind to his wife and children, who were perhaps the only people ever to bear witness to the man's gentler side. A man who demanded both honesty and loyalty of his subjects, he was said to have been fair in his judgments, but utterly merciless in dealing with disloyalty. He is said to have punished one such traitor by feeding him to the vicious pack of wolves kept on the grounds of Castle Blackmorn during its construction. Although he was considered a just ruler by his own people, Anton was considered by his enemies to be utterly merciless. If an enemy was bold enough to venture into his domain and commit violence, Anton would assemble his men and lay siege to the enemy's village--Raping, pillaging, and burning as he went until little if any trace remained of the settlement he'd attacked. He was also known to have supported slavery and kept many of the women and children of his enemies as slaves. It is rumored that Castle Blackmorn was almost entirely constructed by such slaves. History Little is known of his early life, but Anton was among the first Arathi Chieftains to lead his tribe North before the rise of the Empire of Arathor. Renowned for both his brutal tactics and his success in decimating the trolls that plagued the Arathi humans for many years, Anton sought a better life for his clan in the rich, heavily-forested lands to the North. Using wolves in battle to frighten and ravage their enemies, Anton and his warriors cut a bloody swathe through the heavily forested region and decimated any enemy foolish enough to stand in their way. Having defended against three successive invasions, Anton founded the Kingdom of Wolf's Crossing. He and his wife Lyriana would have seven children and Khorin, their eldest would become the 2nd King of Wolf's Crossing. Despite being wounded in battle numerous times, Anton ruled for forty years, living well into his sixties until his death of natural causes. Legend Prior to the Northern migration, it is said that he chose the family name "Blackmorn" when the first of his sons was born on a particularly cold and dark November morning, during which their camp was attacked by trolls. So enraged by such an attack on the day of his son's birth, Anton is said to have brutally butchered the trolls and claimed the tusks of the attackers as grizzly trophies. Legend has it that the tusks were then blackened by fire and added to the first Crown he had made for himself. Though it was later lost to the ages, the Crown of Anton the Black remains a powerful symbol to the house of Blackmorn, and has been incorporated into their modern day coat of arms. Category:Characters Category:House of Blackmorn Category:Wolf's Crossing Human Category:Deceased